In Dreams
by Dani-Ellie03
Summary: finished! When Paige begins having dreams about a young girl being abused, Piper believes they are symbolizing Paige's unease about quitting her job. Paige, however, isn't so sure the answer is that simple.
1. Weird Dream

A/N: This story takes place in early season five. The details of Paige's dreams and what they wind up leading to are from a story I started writing when I was fourteen and never finished. I remembered enough of the details, though, to use them here ;)  
  
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The little girl ran through the evergreens and eventually stopped between two tall trees, out of breath and sweaty. Her red gingham dress, which was picking up the highlights in her strawberry blond hair, billowed as she sank to the ground. She drew her knees to her chest as tears streamed down her cheeks. "I am never, ever, ever going back there," she mumbled over and over. After a few minutes of quiet, angry muttering, she rested her arms on her knees, dropped her head into her arms, and started sobbing.  
  
"Jamie! Jamie, where are you?" another young voice called, filtering through the trees.  
  
The girl gasped and shot her head up, the wispy strands of hair that had fallen from her ponytail framing her face. She paused for a moment to determine where the voice was coming from, then stood up and prepared to run in the opposite direction. There was no way she was going back there, and no one could make her change her mind.  
  
"There you are!" The girl that ran up to Jamie was only a couple of years older than Jamie was herself, and there was no mistaking the family resemblance between the two. Both girls had strawberry blond hair, green eyes, and freckles sprinkled across the bridge of their noses. The older girl smiled and rested her hand on her sister's shoulder. "Come on, Jamie. Helen wants us in the house."  
  
"I'm not going back there, Meaghan, and neither should you." She pulled out of Meaghan's grasp and backed away slightly. "I hate her."  
  
"I don't like her, either," Meaghan admitted, "but we don't have a choice. She's our stepmother and when Daddy died, that left her in charge of us."  
  
Jamie shook her head, tears returning to her eyes. This time, the tears were a combination of desperation and absolute terror. "But don't you understand, Meaghan? Daddy's dead because of her. She killed him, Meaghan, she killed him!"  
  
It was at that moment that Paige finally shook herself awake. She gasped and sat up straight in her corner of the couch, gazing around the room a moment before trying to make sense of the dream she had just had. "You know, you are the only person I know who could fall asleep during one of the scariest movies ever made," she heard Piper say teasingly.  
  
Paige whipped her head around and stared at Piper, who was sitting at the opposite end of the couch. "Huh?"  
  
"One minute you're watching The Exorcist with us and the next you're out cold at the end of the couch." She stopped, wrinkling her brow at the bewildered look on Paige's face. "Are you okay?"  
  
Paige shrugged as she ran her fingers through her shoulder-length red hair. "I-I think so," she stammered. "I-I just had this really weird dream."  
  
Curious, Phoebe stopped the video, got up from her spot in the easy chair, and nestled herself on the sofa between her sisters. Paige met her eyes for a split second, then stared back down at her hands. Even in that one moment, Phoebe could tell that the dream had her seriously creeped out. "What was it about, honey?" she asked, her tone gentle.  
  
Paige cleared her throat and leaned back on the couch, settling into the soft cushions, but she kept her eyes glued to her hands. "There was this little girl, she couldn't have been more than six, and she was in the woods, crying. Then this other little girl who had to be her older sister found her and told her that their stepmother wanted them home. The younger girl, I think her name was Jamie, started freaking out and saying that she didn't want to go back home because the stepmother killed the father."  
  
"Wow," Phoebe said softly, resting her hand on Paige's knee. "Sounds pretty intense."  
  
"It was," Paige said with a small nod. She finally looked up at both Piper and Phoebe. When she saw the identical looks of concern on their faces, she instantly felt a little foolish for making such a big deal of the stupid dream. She gave them a tiny sheepish smile. "I guess that's what I get for falling asleep during one of the scariest movies ever made, huh?"  
  
Piper and Phoebe both giggled, and Phoebe leaned in to give her a sideways hug. "Now you know not to do it again," Piper teased. "You going to be okay?"  
  
"Yeah," Paige nodded, shrugging off the last of her visible uneasy feelings. "Turn the movie back on. I'm okay." Phoebe gave her a smile, then stood up, turned the VCR back on, and settled back in the easy chair.  
  
Piper and Phoebe quickly became drawn into the movie again, but seeing as Paige had slept through nearly an hour of it, she had no idea what was going on. She allowed her mind to wander; the dream was so strange and made so little sense to her that she couldn't stop thinking about it. Who were those girls? Where were they from? Or a more appropriate question, when were they from? Thinking back, she remembered that both girls had been wearing knee-length gingham dresses and black ankle boots, almost like they belonged in the pioneer days. She wasn't exactly a big history buff, so why would she dream about something like that? She sighed after a moment and shook her head, trying to put the dream out of her mind. I just have to learn to stay awake during scary movies, she thought to herself as she turned her attention back to the television. 


	2. Curiouser and Curiouser

A/N: Thanks to all who reviewed! I live for reviews ;)  
  
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Piper hummed to herself as she beat a couple of eggs in a bowl, instantly turning the separate clear whites and bright yolks into one pale yellow liquid. She had already made omelets for both Phoebe and Leo before they had run off to work. Phoebe had to be at the paper early and Leo had to spend the day with another charge. Piper sighed, wishing she knew what Leo spent his days doing when he was with his other charges, but he was under very strict orders not to tell her. And even though they had broken almost every other rule in the book, that was one that had remained sacred. The Whitelighter-charge confidentiality was extremely important, and while Piper may not have liked it, she understood.  
  
The only who hadn't come downstairs yet was Paige. Since she had quit her job three weeks before, she relished being able to sleep past eight. Piper was used to cooking breakfast for her a little later than she cooked for the others, but this morning, Paige was later than normal. It was already nine-thirty and Piper hadn't heard a sound from upstairs. Once she had the eggs mixed just right, she wiped her hands on a dishrag and headed out of the kitchen to check on Paige. As soon as she reached the stairs, she heard footsteps sluggishly padding from Paige's room to the bathroom. Piper smiled, then went back into the kitchen to start Paige's omelet.  
  
Paige shuffled into the kitchen a few minutes later, yawning and rubbing her eyes. "Morning," she said through another yawn.  
  
"Morning," Piper answered cheerfully, smiling at her bleary-eyed sister. "You want just cheese, right?"  
  
Paige sank into a chair at the kitchen table and let out a small, tired groan. "Is it too late to turn it into scrambled? That way you can split it with me. I'm not all that hungry."  
  
"It's a little late, yeah, but I'll split it with you anyway," Piper offered. Paige shot her a grateful smile before propping her elbows on the table and resting her chin on her hand. "Are you okay?" Piper asked as she scooped the omelet from the pan and onto a plate.  
  
Paige nodded as Piper set both a plate and a cup of coffee in front of her. "I'm just tired."  
  
Piper sat down next to Paige, placing her own plate with half the omelet on the table. She cut off a piece of the omelet, stabbed it with her fork, and blew on it before sticking it in her mouth. "You've been really tired lately," she said once she had swallowed. "Is everything all right?"  
  
Paige shrugged as she sipped her coffee, obviously hoping that the caffeine would wake her up even just a little bit. "I had that dream again last night."  
  
"What dream?" Piper asked, wrinkling her brow. "The one you had yesterday?"  
  
"Sort of," Paige said, sighing. "The same two girls were there, but it was different."  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
Paige shrugged again. "Those two girls, Jamie and Meaghan, were being chased by some blond woman. They were running through the woods and Jamie wound up breaking away and hiding behind a tree. Meaghan tripped over something on the ground, a stick or tree root or something, and the woman caught up with her. She started hitting Meaghan and all I could hear was Meaghan screaming in agony and Jamie sobbing. Jamie could see everything from where she was hiding. And then . . . Meaghan got quiet." She sighed and put her face in her hands. "Why am I dreaming about this, Piper?"  
  
Piper reached out and rested her hand on Paige's arm. "I don't know, sweetie." Paige dropped her hands to the table and sighed heavily, tears jumping into her eyes. Piper was immediately concerned all over again. "This is really upsetting you, isn't it?"  
  
Paige nodded, swiping at her tears before they could spill over. "The dreams are just so disturbing. I mean, those little girls are the cutest things in the world. Why would anyone want to hurt them?"  
  
"Honey, they're just dreams." Paige shook her head, dropping her gaze to her hands. Piper drew in her breath; she had never seen Paige this worked up before. What could be causing those dreams? They certainly didn't sound like the kinds of dreams Paige would have normally. What could possibly be on her mind that would make her dream about watching two little girls being abused? Suddenly, she gasped, a thought coming to her. "When you worked at the social services office, you ran across a lot of abused kids, right?"  
  
Paige nodded again without removing her gaze from her hands. "Yeah, unfortunately, I did."  
  
"So maybe these dreams are your way of dealing with your decision to quit." Piper smiled and placed her hand comfortingly on top of Paige's. "Maybe you weren't as ready to quit as you thought you were."  
  
"Maybe," Paige said quietly. "Still, I wish I know who those girls were and what happened to them."  
  
Piper smiled. "I know you do, sweetie, and I wish I could help you. Maybe you'll find out in another dream."  
  
"Yeah, maybe." Without another word, Paige finally began to eat her breakfast. Piper looked her over for a moment, but she remained silent as they both ate. When Paige was finished, she stood and carried her plate to the sink. "That's for the breakfast, Piper. I think I'm just going to relax upstairs for a bit, if that's okay."  
  
"Of course it's okay," Piper replied. "Want me to check on you in a little while?"  
  
Paige shot Piper her first real smile of the morning. "I'd like that."  
  
"Okay," Piper nodded, smiling back. She watched Paige exit the kitchen, and once she was alone, Piper allowed her shoulders to drop and the concern to show on her face. Whatever those dreams meant, they were upsetting Paige in a way Piper had never seen before. Paige wasn't exactly a morning person, but she was never that quiet and upset. Sighing, she stood up to wash the breakfast dishes and wondered what, if anything, she could do for her little sister.  
  
**********  
  
Jamie had to get away. There was no two ways about it. She couldn't live with Helen anymore, not after what she had done to Meaghan. Jamie still couldn't believe what she had seen. Helen had beat Meaghan right in front of her. She had no doubt in her mind that Helen would have killed Meaghan if Jamie hadn't come out of her hiding place to stop her. As it was, Meaghan was still at the doctor's. She hadn't woken up once in the three days since the attack, and each day that went by without Meaghan waking up, the more scared Jamie got.  
  
She wanted nothing more than to tell the sheriff that Helen was the reason that Meaghan was so hurt, but she didn't dare. On the way to the doctor's, Helen had warned Jamie that if she so much as opened her mouth to tell anyone, she'd do the same thing to her without a moment's hesitation. She had seen firsthand what Helen could do twice, with her father and with Meaghan, and she simply couldn't live with the fear and terror anymore.  
  
Quietly, she packed a small burlap bag with a couple of dresses, two pairs of shoes, her hairbrush, and some undergarments. On each trip from the dresser to her bed, she glanced out the window. Though it was pitch-black, she could see the trees moving and swaying in the heavy, whistling wind. A storm was brewing, but she wasn't about to let that stop her from leaving. She needed to get out of that house and away from Helen. Once her bag was packed, she picked it up, slung it over her shoulder, and tiptoed to the front door. She paused with her hand on the wooden latch, looked back over her shoulder at the small house one final time, and then slipped out the door, disappearing into the cold, windy night.  
  
"Paige."  
  
Paige felt someone tapping her shoulder. She moaned and swiped at the other hand, trying to get whomever it was to go away.  
  
"Paige, wake up!"  
  
This time, the person shook her roughly. Paige started, her eyes snapping open. She found herself face-to-face with a visibly concerned Piper. Almost at once, tears welled in her eyes and she had to swallow the lump that had quickly risen in her throat. "Piper, I have to save her," she spluttered. "She's too young to be out there by herself."  
  
"Paige, honey, it was just a dream."  
  
Paige sat up, a small fleece blanket she didn't remember putting on falling down from around her shoulders. "No, Piper, we have to help her."  
  
Piper sat down next to Paige and wrapped her arm tightly around her sister's shoulders. "Paige, calm down. You're in your own room; that was just a dream. Look around." Paige gazed around the room and realized that Piper was right. She was indeed in her room, sitting up in bed with a magazine lying open beside her. What had happened? "I came up to check on you and you were sound asleep," Piper continued, almost as if she had read Paige's mind. "As I was spreading the blanket over you, you started whimpering in your sleep. I figured you were having another one of those dreams, so I woke you up."  
  
"Thanks," Paige said softly, tugging her fingers through her hair. She rubbed her eyes and yawned, then glanced down at the magazine. "I guess I fell asleep while I was reading."  
  
"You were writing," Piper said with a gentle smile, indicating the half- finished quiz in the magazine. "I took the pen from your hand." Piper hesitated a moment, looking Paige over before she continued. "Do you want to talk about the dream?"  
  
"Jamie ran away," Paige explained with a heavy sigh. "After Helen beat Meaghan, she was left unconscious at the doctor's. Jamie was terrified and she ran away."  
  
"Jamie's the little one?"  
  
Paige nodded. "She's entirely too young to be out there all alone, Piper, and a storm was coming. She wouldn't have survived two nights by herself."  
  
Piper turned around slightly so that she was facing her sister and gripped her hands. "Paige, it was just a dream. I know it probably seemed very real, but it was a dream. Jamie, Helen, and Meaghan don't exist."  
  
Paige looked into her sister's eyes, pleading with her to understand. "But they do seem very real, and each one is more real than the one before. The first one felt like a dream, but this one . . . it was like I was sitting there in the house, watching Jamie leave. I even called out to stop her, but she didn't turn around."  
  
Piper softened when she saw the desperation on Paige's face. "Honey, I-I don't know what you want me to tell you . . ."  
  
"Tell me why I'm having these dreams," she begged, her voice barely audible.  
  
Piper looked both surprised and concerned. As she tightened her grip on Paige's hands, her expression went from one of concern to one of pure determination. "I don't know why you're having the dreams, but I promise you we'll figure it out." 


	3. Search for a Solution

"But I don't even know what to look for," Phoebe whispered to Piper as she settled in an old chair with the Book of Shadows in her lap.  
  
"Anything having to do with dreams," Piper whispered back. She left Phoebe alone and crossed the attic to where Paige was sitting in a corner with a book on dreams. "You find anything?"  
  
Paige shook her head, stifling a yawn. "Nothing yet. I can find stuff on dreams that I'm being abused, but nothing about watching little kids being abused." She rubbed her eyes, dropping her book into her lap. "I'm so tired, and I don't want to fall asleep."  
  
"I won't let you fall asleep," Piper assured her. Paige nodded and picked up her book, once again trying to focus on the pages. Piper turned around, hiding her own yawn behind her hand. As she settled into another chair, she glanced down at her watch and groaned. It was almost one in the morning; the three of them had been looking through books on dreams that Phoebe had borrowed from the library for a couple of hours, and they had all come up empty-handed. Piper sighed, then opened a different book and started paging through it.  
  
The book explained almost everything she could have wondered about dreams. Every little symbol, from a cross on a wall to the significance of falling or flying, was detailed, highlighted, and explained away. Everything but seeing a child being abused. Frustrated, she closed the book and looked up just in time to see Paige drop her hands to her lap as her eyes fell closed. "Paige, don't you close your eyes," she said sternly.  
  
Paige started and looked up at Piper, blinking rapidly. Then she shook her head and wearily ran her fingers through her hair. "Piper, this is impossible. These books aren't going to tell me what the stupid dreams mean."  
  
"Paige, you can't give up," Phoebe said. She set the Book down and crossed the attic, nestling on the floor right next to Paige. She nudged her a little, presumably to keep her awake. "We'll find the answer, honey."  
  
Paige shook her head again. "No, we won't. There is no big answer. The answer lies somewhere within me, and it doesn't matter how many books we look through. The books won't have the answer."  
  
Phoebe glanced at Piper as she opened her mouth to argue. Piper just shook her head at her sister, telling her at once to let it drop. She hated seeing Paige so hopeless, but she did have a point. None of the books so far had given them an answer; it was foolish to stay up looking through them. "Why don't we call it a night," Piper suggested. "We can pick it up in the morning once we've all had a little rest."  
  
A panicked look crossed Paige's face for a moment. "Piper, I can't go to sleep! I don't want to watch Jamie suffer anymore. I can't . . ."  
  
Phoebe immediately wrapped Paige in a sideways hug. "Shh, it's okay."  
  
Piper stood up and walked over to them, trying to think of how she could calm Paige. Obviously the three of them couldn't stay up all night, but there was no way Paige was going to agree to go to bed. Not that Piper could blame her; she wouldn't want to have those dreams, either. "Paige, honey, you have to sleep--"  
  
Paige jumped to her feet and backed herself into the corner, vehemently shaking her head. "I can't. I can't watch it anymore. She's only little and she's being tortured and I can't do a damn thing to help her."  
  
"Paige, listen to me." Piper placed both hands on her sister's shoulders for emphasis. "Listen to yourself. You just gave yourself the answer. You're upset because you think that by quitting your job, you won't be able to help little kids anymore. That's what these dreams are about."  
  
"You really think so?" Paige asked warily.  
  
"I really do," Piper replied.  
  
Paige nodded and stepped forward a little, allowing her tense muscles to relax. "I'm still not going to sleep."  
  
"You have to at least try," Phoebe said, picking herself up from the floor. "I mean, you can't stay awake for the rest of your life."  
  
Tears jumped into Paige's eyes as she looked down at the floor, realizing that Phoebe was right. Piper sighed and was trying to think of something she could do to ensure that Paige wouldn't dream when she got an idea. "Paige, how badly do sleeping pills affect you?"  
  
"Pretty bad," she answered, obviously not following Piper's train of thought. "Whenever I take anything like that, I'm zonked for hours."  
  
"How zonked? Do you dream when you take it?"  
  
Paige's eyes lit up in realization, finally understanding what Piper wanted to do. "I don't think so," she said with a smile.  
  
"Good. I have some sleeping pills from years ago . . . I don't even remember why. Anyway, I can let you take one just for tonight. We'll figure out how to make the dreams go away in the morning."  
  
Paige nodded. "I'm just warning you, though, if you give it to me now, I can pretty much guarantee I won't be up before ten."  
  
"That's perfectly fine," Piper smiled. "Go on downstairs. I'll be down in a minute to give you the medicine, okay?"  
  
"Okay." Paige yawned and tiredly shuffled out of the attic.  
  
"Piper, I'm not so sure she's having these dreams because she quit," Phoebe said once she was certain Paige was out of earshot.  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"I mean, your theory makes sense, but the dreams seem . . . chronological, I guess. The first one was about the kids in the woods, the second was Helen beating Meaghan, and then the third has Jamie running away because she was scared after what happened to Meaghan. What are the chances that three dreams at three different times would follow an order?"  
  
"Not good chances," Piper sighed. "So what are they, then, if they're not regular dreams?"  
  
"I don't know," Phoebe admitted. "Look, I'll stay up a little bit longer looking through the Book. You go down, take care of Paige, and go to bed. If I find anything, I'll wake you."  
  
"Okay, hon." Piper wrapped her sister in a quick hug, then let go and smiled. "G'night." With a heavy sigh, she left the attic and made her way downstairs. Quickly, she went into her room and dug through the top drawer of her dresser. As soon as her fingers hit the pill bottle, she snatched it and fished out one pill. Then she went to the bathroom, poured a glass of water, and tiptoed down the hall to Paige's room.  
  
Piper's heart went out to her the moment she saw her. She was huddled under the covers, fighting to keep the tears in her eyes from spilling over. As soon as she saw Piper in the doorway, she sat up and smiled. "My drugs are here."  
  
Piper giggled as she handed the glass to Paige and dropped the pill into her other hand. "Yes, they are. But remember, this is just for tonight."  
  
"Yes, ma'am," Paige said after washing down the pill with a gulp of water. She set the glass on her nightstand and yawned, lying back down. "I better not have bad dreams tonight."  
  
"You won't," Piper said softly. She straightened the blankets around Paige as she allowed her eyes to fall closed. "Good night, Paige."  
  
"Night, Piper," Paige whispered, her voice growing softer as she began slipping into sleep.  
  
Piper crept out of the room and slowly pulled the door closed. With a sigh, she made her way into her own room. Leo still wasn't home, so Piper had the room to herself. Ordinarily, that would make her a little lonely, but she was just entirely too tired to even think about it. She climbed into bed, her eyes closing the instant her head hit the pillow.  
  
It seemed as though she had been in bed for all of five seconds when she heard someone hissing her name. She moaned and tried to ignore the voice. A moment later, she felt someone tapping her shoulder. "What?" she whined.  
  
"Piper, I think I found something." The urgency in Phoebe's voice woke Piper up a little. "And if it is what I think it is, this isn't going to be easy to explain to Paige without freaking her out."  
  
Piper sat up, squinting against the dim light filtering in from the hallway. "What are you talking about?"  
  
"I don't want to be the one to tell her that if this is what the Books says it is, Jamie, Meaghan, and Helen all are or were real." 


	4. Closer to the Truth

Author's note: Sorry this is going up so slowly. Between school and work and everything in between, it's hard getting typing time. I have a lot written; it's typing it that's the issue ;)  
  
Thanks to all who review! I love y'all :)  
  
*********  
  
Phoebe quietly opened the door to Paige's room and peeked in to check on her sister. Paige was still fast asleep, completely undisturbed by the bright sunlight filtering into the room around the edges of the shades. She was curled up on her side with one arm slung over the edge of the bed and the other hand resting on the pillow by her face. Phoebe called Paige's name to see if she would flinch. When she didn't, Phoebe sighed, pulled the door closed, and turned to Piper, who was standing behind her in the hall. "When she said that stuff knocks her out, she wasn't kidding. She's not even stirring."  
  
"Really?" Piper asked, a relieved smile playing across her lips.  
  
"Yeah," Phoebe nodded. "You do realize we're going to have to tell her eventually, right?"  
  
"I know," Piper sighed. "I just . . . I don't want to wake her. She needs the rest, and once we tell her, she's never going to want to sleep again."  
  
Phoebe nodded again as she wrapped her arm around her sister's shoulders. Truthfully, she didn't want to tell Paige what she had found out, either. It would only upset her even more than she already was. What Phoebe had found in the Book of Shadows creeped her out and she wasn't even directly involved.  
  
According to the Book, some dreams were actually messages from another being transferred through some form of connection. The connection wasn't necessarily strictly psychic; the two people involved might have been on the same wavelength, so to speak, or the receiver may be in a position to offer help to the sender. But either way, if Paige and Jamie were connected somehow, that meant Jamie was just as real as Paige was. And that also meant that what Paige was dreaming about actually happened. Phoebe, for one, was not looking forward to having that conversation with Paige. But she knew she had to.  
  
"Hey, aren't you supposed to be at the office?" Piper suddenly asked, pulling away from Phoebe a little.  
  
"I called Elise and told her I had some family stuff going on," she explained. "She took it surprisingly well and told me I could work from home for the afternoon."  
  
"Ah," Piper replied with a nod. Sighing, she shifted her gaze to Paige's door. "I wish we could let her sleep."  
  
"I do, too," Phoebe admitted, "but it's already ten. We have to get cracking on figuring out exactly what's going on and we need her for that."  
  
Piper sighed again and brushed past Phoebe on her way into Paige's room. She opened the door and tiptoed into the room with Phoebe on her heels. Piper sat down on the bed above Paige's knees as Phoebe sat down at the foot. After hesitating for a moment, she gently shook her sister's shoulder. "Paige."  
  
Paige groaned and pushed Piper's hand away. "Go away," she mumbled.  
  
"Paige, come on," Piper said, shaking her shoulder again. "It's time to get up."  
  
"Too sleepy," she muttered without opening her eyes. After pulling away from Piper's reach, she tugged the covers up to her chin and snuggled underneath them. "Leave me alone."  
  
"Paige, we need you," Phoebe spoke up. "We need your help with something and it can't wait."  
  
Paige groaned, but after a moment, she forced herself into a sitting position and pried her eyes open. "What do you want?"  
  
"Geez, Paige, you're snotty in the morning," Piper teased. Paige just made a face at her before yawning and rubbing her eyes. "All right, I think a little caffeine is in order," she continued. She stood up, grabbed Paige's hand, and tugged. "I need you semi-awake."  
  
"I am semi-awake," Paige grumbled, shaking her hand away from Piper's. With another yawn, she climbed out of bed.  
  
"Okay, well, we need you a little more awake that you are right now," Phoebe said cheerfully, trying to bring Paige around a bit. She ran up to Paige and wrapped her arm around her shoulders. "The coffee's good this morning."  
  
"Coffee's always good," Paige said as Phoebe led her out of the room and down the stairs. "I need coffee with a lot of sugar."  
  
"And that is what you shall get," Piper giggled.  
  
After about fifteen minutes, Paige had perked up considerably. She was still a little groggy, most probably from the last of the sleeping pill working its way out of her system, but she was giggling and speaking more than a sentence at a time. "My poor body's not going to know what to do," Paige chuckled as she downed her second cup of coffee. "Last night it was being told, 'Go to sleep!' and now it's being told, 'Wake up!'"  
  
"Yeah, sorry about that," Piper said with a sheepish grin. "I never would have given you that pill if I had known we were going to need you."  
  
"What exactly do you need me for?"  
  
Phoebe exchanged a quick glance with Piper. How on Earth were they going to do this? Phoebe opened her mouth to start and explanation, but Piper cut her off, obviously figuring that easing her into it would be better. "We need to know what you remember about the dreams: details, timing, everything. And you need to think hard because it's very important that we know what went on in them."  
  
Paige shot each of them a bewildered look, but after a moment, she shrugged, clasped her hands in front of her on the table, and closed her eyes. Phoebe could tell that it was painful for her to be reliving the dreams, even if it was only in memory, but she did it without a word of complaint. "Okay," she said, opening her eyes, "first Jamie was running through the woods, looking over her shoulder every so often. She looked no more than six and she was adorable: light red hair, green eyes, and freckles. She was terrified and angry at the same time and she didn't want to go back home. Meaghan found her a couple minutes later and told her that they had to go home. Meaghan looked just like Jamie, only a couple of years older, maybe eight or nine. Jamie got upset and started yelling about how she had seen Helen kill their father."  
  
"What were they wearing?" Piper asked quietly.  
  
"Gingham dresses, black ankle boots. They almost look like they walked off the set of Little House on the Prairie." Paige sighed, shaking her head at herself. "It's sad that a majority of my historical knowledge about clothing and such comes from television."  
  
Phoebe smiled and gently steered the conversation back on topic. "What happened next?"  
  
"Just as Jamie was freaking out, Helen found them. Jamie had gotten Meaghan so riled up that she was terrified, too, so she took Jamie's hand and ran. Helen was chasing them, hollering after them to stop. Meaghan said that she was going to tell the sheriff about what Jamie had seen happen to their father. Jamie broke away and hid, but Meaghan kept going. She tripped and Helen caught up with her . . ." She trailed off and gazed down at her hands, tears jumping into her eyes. It was completely obvious that she didn't want to talk about the next event.  
  
Piper rested her hand on Paige's and gave it a tight squeeze. "It's okay, we know what happened next. What about after?"  
  
"Meaghan was hurt pretty bad . . . unconscious and bleeding," she continued, her voice trembling. "Jamie jumped out from her hiding spot and managed to stop Helen from literally killing her. Helen picked Meaghan up, said they were taking her to the doctor's, and told Jamie that if she told anyone the truth about what happened, she wouldn't hesitate to beat her like that, too. And since Jamie had seen Helen kill her father and almost kill her sister, she kept her mouth shut."  
  
Phoebe exchanged a glance with Piper. This was getting too elaborate to be just dreams because Paige was dealing with her decision to quit her job. "What happened when they got to the doctor's?" Phoebe asked her softly.  
  
"Helen told the doctor that Meaghan had run off and that she and Jamie had just found her like that in the woods. The evil bitch was a good actress, faking tears and everything. They left her there and went home. Helen would go check on her every so often to keep up the concerned stepmother appearance. After a few days, Jamie couldn't stand the terror anymore, so she packed a bag and ran away. She was so set on leaving that she didn't care that a storm was coming." She looked up at her sisters and cleared her throat. "And that's all I know."  
  
Phoebe met Piper's eyes again and she could tell immediately that she and Piper were thinking the same thing. Not only was the story construction too elaborate, Paige had made no distinction between one dream and the next. The whole story flowed together in an order perfect enough that Paige didn't have to account for any gaps from one dream to the other. "Did you tell us that in the order you had the dreams?"  
  
Paige nodded, somewhat confused. "Why?"  
  
"Because having three related dreams in a row is strange enough," Piper said gently, "but having three related dreams in a row in perfect chronological order is even stranger."  
  
Paige's eyes darted between her sisters. "Enough with being cryptic. What aren't you two telling me?"  
  
Phoebe nervously met Piper's eyes again. How on Earth were they going to do this? After taking a deep breath, she returned her attention to Paige and gave her a gentle smile. "Last night after you went to bed, I found something in the Book of Shadows that said that sometimes, dreams are actually messages from one person to another. The way you can tell is that the message dreams are more vivid and follow a logical order."  
  
"Okay, but I couldn't receive a message like that," Paige replied slowly, not quite following what Phoebe was saying. "I don't have psychic powers."  
  
"Not technically, but you do have a sympathetic sensing ability because you're half Whitelighter," Piper pointed out, "and you do have a soft spot for children in need. Plus, the connection isn't necessarily strictly psychic."  
  
Paige drew in her breath, finally understanding what her sisters were thinking. "Wait, so if I'm connected with her, that means she's a real little girl and all the things I'm dreaming about really happened, right?"  
  
"Yeah," Phoebe said softly.  
  
"But there's something else," Piper broke in hesitantly. "If you are connected with her, that also means we can't stop the dreams again. We have to let them through to find out what she wants."  
  
"So I have to watch them," Paige said bluntly. "I have to watch her die."  
  
"Paige, we don't know that she--" Phoebe started, but she broke off when Piper caught her eye and shook her head. Realizing that arguing wasn't going to get her anywhere, Phoebe instead reached across the table and gripped Paige's hands. "Yeah, it's a possibility, honey. Do you think you're up for this?"  
  
Paige closed her eyes, sighing heavily. "No." She shook her head, opened her eyes, and fixed her gaze on the table. "But it looks like I don't have much of a choice."  
  
**********  
  
Paige sank onto the divan under the window in her room with a small groan. She just couldn't believe it. Her sisters thought Jamie was real. She was desperately hoping that they were wrong because she hated what it would mean if they were right. That would mean that Helen really did kill Jamie's father and it was also quiet possible that she had killed Meaghan. Paige didn't know whether or not Meaghan had ever regained consciousness. She just couldn't bear the thought that two children so young could have lived with such a monster. It made her sick.  
  
She wiped her eyes and sniffled, turning her attention to the house across the street in an effort to take her mind off of Jamie and Helen. The young couple's four-year-old daughter, Paige was pretty sure her name was Madeline, was playing on the front lawn with a kitten. Paige smiled; babies playing with babies. She was amazed by how gentle the little girl was being with the tiny orange cat. Her eyes filled with tears again as she realized that a four-year-old was showing more tenderness to an animal than Helen had ever shown to Jamie and Meaghan. She wiped her eyes with another groan. So much for taking her mind off of Jamie and Helen.  
  
A soft but insistent knock on her bedroom door a moment later caused her to start. With her back to the door, she wasn't sure which sister was standing there, but whichever one it was, she didn't want to talk to either of them. "I don't want to talk right now," she said without turning around.  
  
Two sets of footsteps walked into the room. She rolled her eyes; it was both of them. A second later, she heard the bed creak under the weight of someone sitting down on it. "Too bad," Piper said, her voice coming from directly behind Paige.  
  
"Piper, I mean it," Paige replied with an irritated tone.  
  
"So do I," Piper answered. "I am not about to let you close yourself off from us. There's no reason for you to have to deal with this alone."  
  
"Paige, tell us what you're feeling," Phoebe said pleadingly. "Tell us what's going through your mind right now."  
  
"How can you tell me I have to watch her die?" She turned around and fixed an angry glare on Piper before turning it to Phoebe. "How is that fair to me?"  
  
"It's not," Piper answered, leaning forward and touching Paige's knee. "It's not fair to you at all, but if she is real, she connected with you for a reason. If she's not real, we still have to figure out why you're having the dreams and what they mean. Either way, we have to see where the dreams lead us."  
  
Phoebe gave Paige a comforting smile. "Sweetie, if it'll make you feel better, one of us can stay the nights in here with you until we figure this out. I used to take that old couch all the time when we'd have movie nights with Prue."  
  
A touched grin began tugging at the corners of Paige's mouth. "You'd really do that for me?"  
  
"Of course," Piper smiled. "That way, if the dream gets too bad, we can wake you. And you won't be alone if you wake yourself."  
  
Paige smiled and let out a relieved sigh. Having one of her sisters in the room with her would definitely help ease her mind. She was afraid of the dreams and afraid of what she would see, but she had mostly been afraid of facing the dreams alone. Now that she knew someone would be with her every step of the way, she felt herself relaxing about the whole situation. "That would be wonderful."  
  
"Great!" Phoebe exclaimed. "Piper and I will switch off nights, and I'll take tonight. It'll be like, a mini slumber party!"  
  
Paige giggled. "Thanks, guys. For everything."  
  
"No problem," Piper said with a smile. "We'll get you through this, Paige. I promise we'll figure it out."  
  
I hope so, Paige thought a little nervously. I certainly hope so. 


	5. Happy EndingOr Not

Phoebe was settled on the divan in Paige's room with a blanket around her legs and her laptop balanced on her knees. Though it was barely eleven, Paige had already been asleep for a little over half an hour. Phoebe, however, wasn't remotely tired, so she was using the time to search through genealogy sites in the slim hope of finding anything about Jamie, Helen, and Meaghan. She hadn't found anything so far, but she wasn't about to give up.  
  
She was just about to click another link when Piper opened the door. "How's the slumber party?"  
  
"Shh!" Phoebe hissed, nodding her head in Paige's direction. "She's sound asleep already."  
  
"Really?" Piper asked quietly, stepping into the room.  
  
Phoebe nodded. "She was fine until she actually got into bed. We only talked for about ten minutes, then I asked her something, and she didn't answer. That was about half an hour ago."  
  
Piper wrinkled her brow and shot a concerned glance at Paige. "Should we be worried about that? I mean, there's really no reason for her to be that tired."  
  
Phoebe just shrugged as she turned her attention back to the computer. "I don't know. Maybe not. If Jamie sends her messages through dreams, she'd need Paige to be asleep to tell her something new, right?"  
  
"So Jamie's making her tired?" Piper asked. "Or is it just the nature of the connection?"  
  
Phoebe clicked the back button with an irritated sigh. "I don't know, Piper."  
  
Piper started to tell Phoebe to cut the attitude, but Paige started whimpering in her sleep before she could say much. Just as Piper approached the bed to try to calm her sister, Paige sat up with a loud gasp, tears already in her eyes. "Oh God, oh God . . ." she mumbled.  
  
"Shh." Piper sat down on the edge of the bed and pulled Paige into a comforting hug. "It's okay--"  
  
"No, it's not," Paige cried, struggling against Piper's grip. "She was so sick. She was lost and sick and scared. I could feel it." She finally broke away from Piper and looked into her sister's eyes pleadingly. "She was dying, Piper, and she knew it."  
  
Piper exchanged a nervous glance with Phoebe, each asking the other what they should do. After a quick moment, she turned back to Paige, put her hands on her shoulders, and tried to lie her back down. "Paige, honey, relax--"  
  
"No!" she exclaimed, wriggling away from Piper again. "I'm not going back to sleep. I'm not watching it again."  
  
Looking over at her, Phoebe could see that Paige was fighting to keep her eyes open. If they just quieted her down a little, she'd be fast asleep again within minutes. She got up from the divan and sat down next to Piper. "Honey, just relax. We won't leave you alone. You'll be fine, I promise."  
  
Paige just shook her head, rubbing her eyes wearily. "No, I don't want to relax. I don't want to fall asleep again."  
  
Thinking quickly, Piper crawled to the head of the bed, propped the pillows up against the headboard and leaned back, then motioned for Paige to sit next to her. Paige hesitated, but after a moment of thought, she joined Piper, who wrapped her arm around Paige's shoulders as she leaned back. "That's it," she said softly. "Just sit back and let yourself calm down."  
  
Paige almost immediately began to relax. She sighed quietly, slumping down a little so she wasn't sitting up perfectly straight. "You guys are awesome."  
  
Phoebe caught Piper's eye and smiled. Piper returned the smile, then took her arm out from behind Paige's back so that Paige could make herself more comfortable. Once she was sure Paige had calmed down enough to talk, she cleared her throat. "Paige, what did you mean when you said you could feel how scared she was?"  
  
Paige shrugged, covering her mouth as she yawned. "I could feel her emotions just like they were mine. And I'm telling you, Piper, she was terrified."  
  
"So you weren't that panicked over just the dream, then," Piper concluded thoughtfully. "You were so scared because she was."  
  
Paige nodded and rubbed her eyes. "Yeah. That can't be normal, can it?"  
  
"Well, it depends," Phoebe answered. "Sometimes, it's just the nature of the connection. If she wants someone to know exactly what she went through, it would make sense that she'd want her emotions felt, too."  
  
"How do we know what she wants?" Piper asked Phoebe.  
  
"I don't know," she admitted with a slight shake of her head. "I assume it'll become obvious in the dreams."  
  
"You hear that, Paige? You--" She stopped short as she glanced over at her sister and saw that her eyes were closing. Looking back up at Phoebe, Piper grinned and put her finger to her lips. Phoebe nodded, grinning back, and carefully climbed off the bed to continue her research on the computer.  
  
The sisters sat in silence for the next thirty minutes, the only sound being an occasional frustrated sigh from Phoebe. She had looked up at one point to see Paige fast asleep with her head resting on Piper's shoulder and Piper leaning her head back against the headboard, her eyes closed. She had also switched from genealogy sites to Google, hoping that would find more documents in a shorter amount of time. It had pulled up a lot of personal websites, but she still hadn't found anything of use. She was starting to get tired, so she decided she'd click one final link and then, if nothing turned up, she'd call it a night. As soon as she skimmed the contents of the page, she gasped excitedly, her eyes widening. "Piper, come here!"  
  
Piper opened her eyes and gestured towards Paige. "Kind of stuck here at the moment, Pheebs. What is it?"  
  
"Listen to this: 'In June of 1862, Victoria's daughter Laura found a young child sick and lost in the woods behind their homestead. Knowing that the little girl would die without proper care, Victoria took her in. When the child was well enough, she told Victoria that her name was Jamie, and she proceeded to tell a horrific tale of how her stepmother Helen had killed her father and abused both Jamie and her older sister Meaghan. Victoria took Jamie to the sheriff and made her tell her story. Jamie and Meaghan, who was taken from the doctor's, stayed with Victoria while a search was on for Helen, who had left town. After two months with no word from Helen, Victoria was given legal custody of six-year-old Jamie and nine-year-old Meaghan, and on August 17, 1862, the girls were officially adopted into the family.'" She looked up at Piper, amazed.  
  
Piper instinctively made a move to sit up straighter, forgetting that Paige was leaning against her. She cringed when Paige flinched, but after a moment or two, it was obvious that Piper hadn't woken her. "What are you reading from?"  
  
"Some random person's website," she shrugged. "She made a site about the history of her family, and I'm guessing that this Victoria is an ancestor."  
  
"E-mail her and ask if she knows any more about Jamie and Meaghan," Piper instructed. "Last names, where they lived, anything."  
  
Phoebe nodded, already excitedly composing the message. "I can't wait to tell Paige that her story has a happy ending!"  
  
"I wouldn't be too sure about that," Piper said, her tone cautionary. Phoebe looked up at her sharply, confusion on her face. "All I'm saying is if the story had such a happy ending, why is Jamie still sending messages about it a hundred and forty years later?"  
  
Phoebe sighed. Piper had a point, which meant this whole thing was a lot more complicated than it seemed. She was left wondering what could have happened, what else those poor girls could have gone through. "We have to tell her, though. She deserves to know what we know."  
  
"Oh, I completely agree," Piper said, glancing down at Paige, "but we'll also be cautious about it, be honest about our reservations, and tell her we'll know more once we get a reply to your e-mail."  
  
Phoebe hesitated, then nodded. "Okay, sounds like a plan." She quickly finished the rest of the e-mail. clicked send, and then turned the computer off, setting it down on the divan. She looked over at Piper and could tell right away that her sister was fading fast. "Want me to help you move her so you can go to bed?" she asked quietly.  
  
"Yeah, please," Piper said with a smile. Phoebe stood up and walked over to the other side of the bed. She carefully sat down by Paige's knees and met Piper's eyes, waiting for instruction. "Just take her arm and sit her up. She's out cold; you're not going to wake her up." As Phoebe gently lifted Paige away from the headboard, Piper slid the pillows down so they were lying flat, then climbed off the bed. "Okay, now just guide her back down. She'll do the rest herself.  
  
Sure enough, as Phoebe eased Paige back down, she pulled out of Phoebe's grip and laid down on her side, tucking her hands under the pillows. After waiting a moment to make sure that Paige wasn't going to wake up, Piper turned to Phoebe and gave her a goodnight hug. "Night, honey," she said quietly. "Keep your eye on her."  
  
"Will do," Phoebe smiled. "Don't worry about her. You just get some rest."  
  
Piper nodded, smiling back, and tiptoed out of the room, closing the door behind her. Phoebe turned off the overhead light, but kept the bedside lamp on as a night light. She didn't know if she'd have to wake Paige in the middle of the night or not, and she would have rathered have a light already on. Then she settled on the divan, pulling the afghan up to her chin and closed her eyes, slipping almost immediately into an uneasy sleep. 


	6. Lost

"Good morning, Sleeping Beauty," Piper said with a smile as Paige and Phoebe entered the kitchen at quarter past eight the next morning.  
  
Paige immediately blushed at the nickname as she poured herself a cup of coffee. For the first time in days, she had awoken feeling rested and peaceful instead of groggy and frightened. The dream she had had the night before was rough and upsetting at first, but it had ended on a positive, almost hopeful note. "Are you talking to me?" she asked, feigning innocence.  
  
"Well, Phoebe's not the one who conked out on my shoulder last night," Piper grinned. She turned the pancakes she was cooking and winked at Phoebe.  
  
Paige looked up sharply. "What?"  
  
Piper smirked, taking delight in the sisterly teasing. "Yeah, you and I were sitting up against your headboard talking and the next thing I know, you've got your head on my shoulder, fast asleep and snoring."  
  
Paige blushed again, sitting down at the kitchen table. "I am so sorry, Piper."  
  
"It's okay," Piper chuckled. "I'm just teasing you. It was actually pretty cute."  
  
Grinning, Paige shook her hair out of her eyes and sipped her coffee. It was moments like that that she really felt like part of the family. The past few days, Piper and Phoebe had been wonderful to her, treating her problem like the family's problem and not allowing her to face it on her own. She knew that they loved her just as much as they loved each other, but sometimes she couldn't help feeling left out. There was this huge gap in their relationship that they could never fully fill in. The best they could do was fill it up as much as they could and hope that was enough.  
  
"So you're more cheerful today than you have been lately," Piper said, startling Paige out of her musings. "No dreams?"  
  
"No, I had one," Paige answered, smiling a thank you as Phoebe carried both their plates of pancakes to the table. "It was just . . . hopeful, I guess."  
  
Intrigued, Piper turned the stove off and sat at the table with her sisters. "That's different. What was it about?"  
  
Paige furrowed her brow when she realized that Piper hadn't made any pancakes for herself. "Aren't you going to eat?"  
  
"Not unless I want to be seeing it again in an hour," Piper answered with a bitter smile. "Morning sickness; pancakes are too heavy. I'll make some toast later. What happened in your dream?"  
  
Paige sighed and sat back against the chair. She met Phoebe's eyes, then Piper's. "The beginning of it was actually a bit of a repeat of the one I had earlier in the night. Jamie was so sick. She was lost and she had spent I don't even know how many days without food. She had pretty much resigned herself to the fact that she was going to die; she just didn't know when. She had just let her eyes close when this little girl tapped her shoulder, asked if she was okay, and then said she was going to find her mom so she could help her. I woke up after that, but I felt good . . . kind of like everything was going to be okay."  
  
"Well, that's really nice, honey," Phoebe smiled, resting her hand on Paige's arm.  
  
Paige smiled, but her face fell as Phoebe's eyes immediately flicked to Piper's. Piper shook her head slightly, then broke her gaze with Phoebe to turn her attention to Paige. Paige wrinkled her brow at the silent exchange. They had been communicating silently ever since she had first told them about her dreams, and it was beginning to make her feel very out of the loop. "What's going on, you guys?" she asked, hoping she didn't sound hurt.  
  
Phoebe met Piper's eyes again before answering. "We found something out last night . . . something about Jamie and Meaghan."  
  
"What?" Paige asked almost excitedly. There was real information about Jamie? Even though that meant for certain that Jamie was real, she was happy to be able to learn something else about her other than what she was getting in the dreams. She frowned when Phoebe hesitated, looking over at Piper as if asking for help. It was obvious that Phoebe didn't want to be the one to tell her whatever she had to tell her. And it was equally obvious from the expression on Piper's face that she wasn't exactly sure how to break the news, either. "You know, the whole being afraid to tell me thing is just going to make it worse."  
  
Piper took a deep breath in and took Paige's hand in hers. "Last night, Phoebe was looking through genealogy sites and she found one that mentioned Jamie and Meaghan. The story went that this woman named Victoria had a daughter named Laura who found a little girl that was sick and lost in the woods. Victoria took her in and nursed her back to health. Her name was Jamie. They couldn't find Helen, so Victoria adopted both Jamie and Meaghan. Phoebe e-mailed the site's owner to see if she knew anything else about them."  
  
"And?" Paige asked excitedly. "Did you get a reply?"  
  
Piper cringed at the sparkle in Paige's eyes, then tightened her grip on Paige's hand. "Yes. Phoebe checked her e-mail this morning before you woke up and showed me. The woman said that this all took place in a little town called Elk Creek, which is a bit north of here, in the 1860s. Jamie and Meaghan moved to San Francisco with Victoria and her family about a year after they had been adopted. It so happened that Helen had run to San Francisco when she left Elk Creek, and they wound up meeting up again. Helen couldn't have Jamie and Meaghan turning her in--"  
  
Paige's stomach lurched. "She killed them, didn't she?"  
  
Piper just nodded. "I'm so sorry, hon. We didn't want to tell you . . ."  
  
Paige cleared her throat and shook her head, blinking back tears. "It's okay. I'm glad you told me. The question now is what do we do? I mean, we have to save them, right?"  
  
"Paige, we can't save them," Phoebe spoke up. "They died a hundred and forty years ago. We can't change the past."  
  
"But we have to, Phoebe," Paige said, the tears in her eyes threatening to spill over. "They weren't old enough to stand a chance. They weren't even old enough to really have a life! They were just little kids who deserved to be happy and innocent and she stole that from them . . ." She trailed off, finally giving into her tears. She put her hands over her face as she cried quietly.  
  
She heard both of her sisters get up from the table and a moment later, she felt two pairs of arms wrap around her and squeeze tightly. "We know it's not fair, honey," Piper said softly. "We wish we could save them, too."  
  
"Then what's the point?" Paige asked, defeated. "Why did she connect with me if I can't help her?"  
  
When neither one of them said anything, Paige started crying harder. This couldn't be how it ended; it just couldn't. Phoebe had said that the connection was formed because the receiver could help the sender somehow. There had to be some way to save Jamie and Meaghan, there just had to. "I can't believe I'm not supposed to do anything."  
  
"Shh, it's okay, honey," Piper said gently. "Why don't I call Leo? He might be able to tell you what to do, okay?"  
  
Paige nodded and allowed Piper to stand her up and lead her into the parlor where the three of them could be more comfortable. Sniffling, she sat down in the middle of the couch and smiled slightly when Piper squished in one her left side and Phoebe settled on her right. "You okay, hon?" Phoebe asked, brushing Paige's hair behind her ears.  
  
"Yeah," Paige answered, wiping her eyes. "I'm fine."  
  
Piper raised her eyes to the ceiling. "Leo! Leo, we need you!"  
  
A moment later, the tiny pale blue lights that signified Leo's entrance fell from the ceiling. Leo appeared a second after that and gave his wife a quick kiss. "Hey, honey, what's up?"  
  
"How can I save two little girls from being killed in the 1860s?" Paige asked, getting right to the point.  
  
"You can't," Leo answered, shaking his head. "You can't change the past, you know that."  
  
Paige sighed. Here we go again, she thought. "Well, maybe this is a special case or something. I mean, why would Jamie connect with me if there's nothing I can do for her? I thought a connection like this was formed because I could help her."  
  
"You're connected with a little girl named Jamie?" Leo asked, his eyes widening.  
  
"Yeah," Paige nodded. "Why?"  
  
"It may be just a coincidence," Leo said thoughtfully, sitting down in the easy chair, "but the Elders once told me about a young girl named Jamie who was to become the youngest Whitelighter. She was only around seven or eight, but something happened to her in the transition from Earth to up there. She never got there."  
  
"Why wouldn't she get there?" Piper asked, confused.  
  
"They don't know." Leo leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. "If this is the same Jamie, you may be the one to help her find her way back home. That might be the help she needs."  
  
Phoebe grinned and gave Paige a sideways hug. "So, you may not be able to save her life, but you can save her afterlife!"  
  
"Exactly," Leo said. "I'll go check with the Elders to see if They know if these two girls are one and the same."  
  
Paige watched Leo orb out, then leaned back against the couch and sighed. While she was excited at the thought of being able to help Jamie go home, she still wished there was something she could do to save Jamie and Meaghan in the past.  
  
"See, hon?" Piper said, smiling. "You can help her."  
  
"Yeah," Paige mumbled sadly. "But not in the way I'd like to." 


	7. Answers and a Plan

A/N: Extremely sorry it's been forever between updates. I blame a very bad case of writers' block. I honestly started this chapter at least five times, got a couple pages in each time, and tore it out of the notebook. Stupid arse writers' block . . . I was hating *everything* I wrote. I think I was trying to make it more complicated than I needed to ;) But here it is nonetheless, and if it sucks . . . blame the writers' block.  
  
**********  
  
"What is taking Leo so long?" Paige grumbled through a yawn.  
  
Piper met her sister's eyes and shrugged. Leo had been gone a few hours and the sisters were at a loss as to how to proceed without him. They needed to know if Paige's Jamie was indeed the Jamie that was supposed to have become a Whitelighter all those years ago in order to plan what they were going to do. If the two girls weren't one and the same, they needed to figure out for certain what Jamie wanted and if they could help her.  
  
Paige groaned and rolled her eyes, then sank down at the head of her bed, closing her eyes and resting her head against the wall. "This is so stupid," she muttered. "How long does it take Them to say yes or no?"  
  
Phoebe plopped down next to her and slung her arm over her sister's shoulders. "Honey, why are you so cranky?"  
  
She shrugged without opening her eyes. "I'm frustrated. And I got really tired all of a sudden. I was fine downstairs, but now I'm having a hard time keeping my eyes open."  
  
"Why don't you take a nap," Phoebe suggested. "Maybe Jamie needs to tell you something. We'll both stay right here with you and we'll wake you when we hear something from Leo."  
  
Paige made a face, but she seemed to see the wisdom in Phoebe's suggestion. They still needed a lot of information and with Leo gone, the only way to learn more was to let Jamie tell Paige what she had to tell her. Either that, or Paige just really couldn't stay awake much longer. Without a word, she laid down on her side and curled up in a little ball. When she felt Phoebe make a move to get off the bed, she spoke up. "No, don't go," she mumbled. "I want you there in case I have a nightmare."  
  
"Okay, honey," Phoebe smiled. "Have a good sleep."  
  
Paige gave a barely noticeable nod before almost immediately drifting off. Piper sank down onto the divan as Paige's breathing became deep and even. Once she was sure Paige was asleep, she allowed the concern and worry to show on her face. There was really no reason for Leo to have spent so long up with the Elders, so she was worried about what could possibly be going on up there. Plus, she didn't like how Paige was getting so tired so quickly. It was happening more and more often and it seemed to be coming on quicker and quicker. Piper was beginning to wonder just how safe Paige's connection to Jamie really was.  
  
"Piper, what're thinking about?"  
  
Piper jumped, Phoebe's voice jolting her back to reality. Her eyes fell to Paige as she shrugged. "I'm worried about her, Phoebe."  
  
"Honey, she's fine," Phoebe assured her. "She's just tired."  
  
"I just don't like it," she said with another shrug. "It feels like Jamie has all the control. Whenever Jamie wants to tell Paige something else, Paige is exhausted in five seconds flat. I mean, what happens if a demon attacks when she's out cold? She's completely vulnerable right now."  
  
Phoebe carefully slid off the bed and sat down next to Piper. "We're almost at the answer. We just need a few more clues. She could be getting the final clues now for all we know."  
  
Piper shook her head, tears suddenly welling in her eyes. "I'm scared, Phoebe. I don't trust this at all anymore. I want this connection broken." With a sigh, she looked down at her hands. She knew that it sounded like she was overreacting, but nothing about the situation felt right anymore. "Phoebe, I can't explain it, but I just--"  
  
At that moment, Paige started whimpering in her sleep. Both Piper and Phoebe were up in a flash, each settling on opposite sides of the bed. Piper reached out and touched Paige's shoulder, but Paige pulled away and began crying. Phoebe climbed onto the bed and settled on her knees at Paige's back so she couldn't shrink away, then ran her hand comfortingly down Paige's cheek. Paige seemed to calm down for a moment, but she suddenly moaned loudly and sat up, her eyes snapping open. "Oh my God, she killed them." She saw Phoebe first and started sobbing. "Phoebe, she killed them...she just stabbed two little girls and left them..."  
  
"Oh, honey, shh," Phoebe said softly, wrapping Paige in a tight hug. "It's okay, sweetie."  
  
"No, it's not okay!" she exclaimed, crying into Phoebe's shoulder. "I saw it, Phoebe, I saw the whole thing."  
  
Phoebe let Paige go a little and tried to lie her back down. "Hon, relax--" Paige struggled against Phoebe's grip, which only made her try harder. "Paige, lie down. It'll be okay."  
  
"I'll fall asleep again," Paige mumbled. "I don't want to see the rest of that dream."  
  
"If you start falling asleep, I'll wake you up," Phoebe said gently. "But you need to calm down or you're going to get hysterical."  
  
Paige nodded and laid down on her back. Piper met Phoebe's eyes, her inquisitive expression clearly indicating that she wanted to know what Phoebe was doing. Phoebe just nodded, silently telling Piper to trust her. After a few minutes of struggling to keep her eyes open, Paige closed her eyes and drifted back to sleep. Phoebe grinned up at Piper and repositioned herself on the bed so that she was leaning back against the headboard. "Told you I knew what I was doing."  
  
"Where did you learn that?" Piper asked, smiling. She had to admit, it was a neat trick. With Paige believing someone would wake her if she started nodding off, she allowed herself to relax.  
  
"Remember when I had that nightmare phase back in elementary school?" Phoebe asked. Piper nodded, rolling her eyes at the memory. Phoebe would scream so loud during those nightmares that she would wake up the whole house at least twice a night. "That's how Prue would get me to go back to sleep. She'd tell me she'd keep me awake so that I'd relax enough to fall asleep."  
  
Piper smiled fondly, tears welling in her eyes again. "Prue was a smart girl."  
  
"Yeah, she was," Phoebe whispered, choking up a little. She leaned her head back against the wall and sighed. "Do you think she's watching over us?"  
  
"Yes, I do," Piper answered with certainty. "I think she watches over us all the time."  
  
Phoebe smiled. "I do, too."  
  
Piper nodded, returned her sister's smile, and then let the conversation drop as she and Phoebe each got lost in their own thoughts. As uncomfortable as she was with everything that was going on, she could only imagine how much worse it was for Paige. Her poor sister was the one who had to watch everything, and it was obvious how much watching those little girls be mistreated was affecting her. The last dream was understandably the worse; Paige had never cried in her sleep due to the nightmares before. After the fact, yeah, Piper thought. But not during.  
  
She wasn't exactly sure how long she had sat lost in thought before Leo finally returned from his meeting with the Elders. Piper started when the pale blue light of Leo's orbing lit Paige's room. "Oh my God, Leo!" Piper exclaimed, jumping up from her seat. She wrapped him in a hug and smiled. "What took you so long?"  
  
"They wanted to be thorough," Leo answered, smiling gently. "And They do think that it's the same girl. Everything that Paige has seen tracks with what Their Jamie went through. And the timing's exactly right."  
  
Piper felt herself beginning to calm down. Whether Leo had a calming effect on her or she was just relieved that they were getting closer to fixing everything, she wasn't sure, but she was willing to bet it was a little bit of both. "So what do we have to do?"  
  
"Well, we have to find out what's keeping her where she is," Leo explained, "and Paige'll probably be told that in the next dream. Let her sleep as much as she needs to . . . Jamie has to tell us what happened."  
  
Piper nodded and glanced over at Paige, who was sleeping peacefully. Then she sighed and sat back down. All they could do was wait, and she hated waiting.  
  
Fortunately for her, they didn't have to wait long. About fifteen minutes later, Paige started tossing restlessly. Phoebe made a move to wake her, but Paige's eyes snapped open before Phoebe could even touch her. She sat up, rubbing her eyes. "Oh my God, I know why she's stuck," she said breathlessly. "Helen has her."  
  
"What?" Piper asked, confused. "How does Helen have her?"  
  
"The morning that Helen killed Jamie and Meaghan, she went to work at a textile factory," Paige explained, pausing once to yawn. "Something malfunctioned in one of the machines and there was an explosion. Everyone working on the first floor of the factory was killed, including Helen. Since the deaths were only separated by a couple of hours, she met up with Jamie in a kind of limbo and she's had her ever since."  
  
"Oh wow," Phoebe whispered. "That explains why she never got up there. Helen hasn't let her go."  
  
"But why?" Piper asked. "Didn't she do enough to her when she was alive?"  
  
"She blames her for her death," Paige said. "It's really twisted, but in a weird way, it makes sense. Normally, Helen worked on the second floor. But she was late that morning because she killed Jamie and Meaghan beforehand. Jamie fought her, which Helen wasn't counting on when she timed it out. She blames Jamie for making her late and making her have to work on the first floor. But that's really beside the point. We have to find a way to get me to them."  
  
"Paige, that's extremely dangerous," Leo interrupted her. "If they are in a limbo-type dimension and we send you, we run a real risk of you crossing over by mistake."  
  
"It's a chance we have to take, Leo," Paige said with a dismissive shrug. "I'm her only chance. That's why it's taken her so long to find someone to help her and that's why she connected with me even though Phoebe's the one with the psychic powers. I'm the only one with the power to help her."  
  
Piper crossed the room and sat down next to Paige, resting her hand on her knee. "Honey, you're rambling."  
  
"I have to orb her away from Helen," she answered without batting an eye. "That's all she's waiting on."  
  
Piper hesitated. She wasn't entirely sure that sending Paige to a limbo dimension was the best idea, even if it could help Jamie. She certainly didn't want to lose in any kind of screw-up, but she also didn't want Paige to be connected with this little girl for the rest of her life. Sighing, she met Leo's eyes, silently asking what they should do. He just nodded, which meant that he thought Paige was on the right track. Despite her severe misgivings, she wrapped her arm around Paige's shoulders and smiled. "Well, let's get to work on a spell or something." 


	8. Resolution

A/N: So, this is it! Thanks for being so patient with me, guys! I know this one took me forever, and I'm sorry for that. I hope it was worth the wait ;)  
  
**********  
  
"So this is all I have to say?" Paige asked, glancing down at the slip of paper Phoebe had handed her.  
  
"Yes," Piper answered, nodding. "Phoebe reworked the astral projection spell a little. That'll send you to her astrally while still giving you control over your powers. If anything goes wrong, we have the reversal spell to bring you back. The plan is find her, get her away, and bring her home. Then you come back to us."  
  
Suddenly, Paige felt a tight knot form in her stomach. The fact that this was all resting on her hit her full force. "Can I even find Elderville? Are you sure I'll be able to get her there?"  
  
"Once she's free, she'll know where to go," Leo assured her. "You just have to accompany her and make sure Helen doesn't get her again. It should be easy enough if you work fast."  
  
"How will she know she can trust me?" she asked softly. She had to admit, she was getting rather nervous.  
  
"You and she are connected," Phoebe replied comfortingly. "Even though she's never seen you, she'll know who you are and that you're there to help her."  
  
Paige sighed, somewhat unconvinced. She was beginning to doubt herself a bit. What if she was wrong? What if that wasn't what she needed to do? What if her showing up just made Helen angrier? She wasn't sure what else, if anything, Helen could do to Jamie, but she was now wondering if her interference would cause Helen to do something even worse to the poor little girl.  
  
"Paige, you can do this," Piper said, her voice strong. "I know you can, and you know it, too."  
  
Hearing that Piper believed in her made Paige feel a little bit better. She had been trrying so hard to prove herself to both her sisters, and knowing that it was finally paying off made her so happy. She felt stronger and surer of herself than she had felt in a while. "All right," she said, smiling. "Let's do this."  
  
She gazed down at her spell and read it silently before finally reading it aloud. "Separate body and mind, transcend the bounds of time. Powers so strong will stay with me. Now take me to the one I see."  
  
Almost at once, Paige felt really lightheaded. Then she felt weightless for a brief moment, and the dizziness passed. When she opened her eyes, she found herself in a place that was very bright. Even though the effect was like five-hundred watt bulbs in every light socket in a room, it didn't hurt her eyes to look around. Not that there was much to look at; it was like being in an open field that just happened to be extremely bright.  
  
After taking a moment to orient herself, she set off to try to find Jamie. That task wasn't as hard as she had thought it was going to be. She had only been walking for a few minutes when she heard a young voice crying out in pain. She ran towards the voice and what she saw when she found the made her sick to her stomach. A young blond woman who would have been quite pretty were it not for the look of hatred on her face was holding a little girl around her waist. It was definitely Helen and Jamie. Paige would have recognized Jamie's strawberry blond hair anywhere, and she did remember seeing Helen's face in a couple of the dreams. "Hey!" she hollered, hoping to startle Helen enough that she'd let Jamie go.  
  
Helen looked up and smirked when she saw Paige, tightening her grip on Jamie. "You think you're the only witch she's connected with over the years?" she sneered.  
  
Jamie looked up and met Paige's eye. Despite her obvious pain, she gave Paige a small smile to let her know that she knew that Paige was there to help. Paige smiled back and nodded slightly, then looked directly at Helen, leveling a cold glare at her. "I'm giving you three seconds to let her go. And just so you know, I'm not just a witch. I'm a Charmed One."  
  
"Even a Charmed One can't break my hold on her," Helen said triumphantly. "I know why you want her . . . so she can become a Whitelighter. Well, I'll be damned if I let a murderer become the next best thing to an angel."  
  
"You're the murderer!" Jamie cried, which only caused Helen to squeeze her harder.  
  
"I have one thing you weren't counting on, Helen," Paige said, bracing herself to catch the little girl. "Whitelighter powers. Jamie!"  
  
Jamie instantly disappeared into a cloud of little blue orbs and reappeared in Paige's arms. Jamie squeezed Paige tightly, then grabbed her hand and started to run in the direction away from Helen. Paige looked over her shoulder just as Helen started running towards them. "Hang on, Jamie, okay?" Paige said.  
  
Thinking quickly, she orbed both herself and Jamie out of the area and into another. She looked around frantically and was relieved to see that Helen was nowhere in sight. "We lost her!" she said excitedly. "At least for a little bit."  
  
Jamie met Paige's eyes and smiled. Instantly, her face brightened and her eyes began twinkling. "You're the one I've been waiting for."  
  
It warmed Paige's heart to see the little girl so happy. She knelt down so that she was eye-level with her. "I can't even imagine what you went through all those years. All those dreams I had . . . I saw what happened to you."  
  
The little girl smiled sadly. "I could tell you were different from all the others. The other witches I connected with could get to me, but they couldn't get me away from her. When I sensed you, I knew you were the only one. I had to show you everything so you'd help me."  
  
"I would have helped you without you showing me everything," Paige said gently. She took Jamie's hands and gave them a comforting squeeze. "You're a very special little girl and now, you're going to go to a very special place."  
  
Jamie grinned. "I know. I'm going to help you, just like you helped me."  
  
Paige pulled the girl into a hug and held her for a moment. It was in this moment that she wished she could make it so that Jamie never had to have suffered any of it. She was so precious, so innocent, and so wise beyond her years. She deserved to have a full life, one without suffering. She let Jamie go and looked at her through the tears in her eyes. "I wish I could make it all go away for you."  
  
"It's okay now," Jamie said, choking up herself. "Meaghan is with my mommy and daddy and she has been for a long time. Helen has no reason to stay here now, so she'll go to where she belongs--"  
  
"In hell?" Paige asked, giggling.  
  
Jamie laughed, nodding. "And I have a special destiny to go to. I'll also get to see my family again once I get there. It's all okay now."  
  
Paige smiled and stood up. "So let's get you to that destiny."  
  
With a grin, Jamie nodded excitedly and grabbed Paige's hand, tugging her along as they headed to bring Jamie home.  
  
**********  
  
Phoebe straightened the pillow under Paige's head and sighed, looking down at her sister worriedly. She had been unconscious for over an hour, and Phoebe was beginning to get concerned. "Piper, you think she's okay?"  
  
Piper looked over at Paige and shrugged. "She looks okay. Why?"  
  
"What do you think is taking so long?"  
  
Piper shook her head and was about to answer when Paige drew in her breath and opened her eyes. After a second, she sat up and shook her head as if to clear it, breathing heavily. "Whoa, and I thought orbing was disorienting."  
  
Phoebe rested her hand on Paige's arm. "Are you all right?"  
  
Paige nodded as Piper sat down at the foot of the bed, joining her sisters. From the look on Piper's face, it was obvious that she was both concerned and confused. Paige just smirked and glanced over at Phoebe, who looked like she was bursting with questions as well. "Yeah, I'm fine," she answered, deliberately not mentioning anything that happened. "Just a little woozy."  
  
Phoebe ran her hand up and down Paige's back for a minute. It was something she remembered her grandmother doing when she was little, and it always made her feel better. As soon as Paige's breathing returned to normal, she brought her hand down and looked at her sister expectantly. "So? What happened? Is everything all settled now?"  
  
Grinning, Paige sat back against the headboard. "Yeah, everything's fine. Jamie's safe and Helen's gone."  
  
"What?" Piper asked excitedly. "What happened?"  
  
Paige recounted what had happened in the limbo dimension and the heart-to- heart she had with Jamie. "She's such a sweetheart," Paige said softly. "She seemed happy enough with her destiny, but I still wish I could make it so that none of it ever happened."  
  
"We all do, honey," Piper said, brushing Paige's hair out of her eyes. "But this is her destiny, and we can't change that."  
  
"I know," Paige said, smiling sadly. She shook her head and grinned. "Look, I feel like I've been in bed forever. You two up for the park?"  
  
"You bet!" Phoebe exclaimed. She leaned over and gave Paige a hug, then she grabbed Piper's hand and dragged her off the bed and out of the room. "We'll meet you down at the car!"  
  
Paige giggled and shook her head at her sisters, but she then decided to chase after them. It was such a nice day and for the first time in what felt like ages, she was wide awake.  
  
When they arrived at the park, Paige got out of the car first. She stretched, trying to work out the kinks in her legs. As she gazed out over the deep green grass, she spotted a little girl with strawberry blond hair walking up to a small group of girls about her age. Paige had to do a double take. The girl looked so much like Jamie. "Hi, I just moved here," Paige heard her say a little shyly. "Is it okay if I play with you?"  
  
"Sure," one of the girls said. "What's your name?"  
  
"Jamie," she answered with a smile.  
  
"We were just about to go to the swings if you want to come," the same little girl offered.  
  
Jamie grinned, but before she ran off after the girls, she turned around, met Paige's eye, and gave her a small waive. Paige, amazed, waved back and watched as Jamie giggled and began following her new friends, one of which was undoubtedly her charge. She was so in awe that she jumped a mile when Piper came up behind her. "What's the matter, Paige?"  
  
"Nothing," Paige answered, a smile forming on her lips. She echoed Jamie's words to her. "Everything's okay now, Piper. She's finally happy." 


End file.
